The following invention is a tremolo mechanism to be used on stringed musical instruments. It is shown mounted on a electric guitar, but the same principles can be used on other stringed instruments, and must not be limited to the guitar only. It is used to create a vibrato sound at the discretion of the musician as it fits into the musical scheme of the song.
This tremolo mechanism is actuated by the hand, which does the picking (usually the right hand), but can be mounted for left handed musicians using the left-handed tremolo mechanism. This is done by depressing the tremolo arm, which releases the tension on the strings to lower the pitch, and moving it back into its original position raises the pitch to its original setting. Moving the tremolo arm back and forth creates the vibrato sound, and after it is used the guitar returns to perfect tune when the hand lever is released. This has been a major problem on existing tremolo mechanisms. The problem of the musical instrument going out of tune is so bad that a lot of musicians do not use their tremolos. This tremolo mechanism rotates about a high tolerance shaft, with means to make sure that when it is used it will return in perfect tune.
There is a need to have a tremolo mechanism that when a string breaks it doesn't knock the rest of the strings out of tune, and replacing a string is fast and easy. This tremolo mechanism has this feature as a priority. When installing strings, instead of pushing the strings up through small holes in the back portion of the guitar, the anchor on the string is pushed down through the top portion, through a bridge segment into the anchor block, and then when pulled up it locks into place.
There is a need also to have an easy way to adjust the intonation without using wrenches and screwdrivers. This is done with six knurled knobs, one for each string, that can be adjusted by fingers only, and are locked into place by locking tangs.
There is a need to be able to make fine adjustments to the strings after the tremolo mechanism has been hard mounted on the instrument. This tremolo mechanism allows for adjustments in all three degrees of freedom: 1. string height, 2. adjustment of the bridge for intonation, and 3. adjustment of all strings latterly for equal spacing at the edges of the neck of the instrument fret board.
There is a need to have the tremolo arm stay in the position that the performer wants, instead of flopping all around, and can be reached easily while playing. This tremolo mechanism has this feature built in.